About E-mail Notices for OCRA Club Meetings, Nets and Zoom Meetings

As part of the Amateur Radio hobby developing proficiency in the various communication methods we have at our disposal is part of the hobby.

In that vein, the following are activities that OCRA strongly encourages participation to maintain contact and keep our communication skills current. Key to the following events are emails sent out to interested participants not only as a reminder of the event, but also access information needed for the associated Zoom session.

  1. The monthly club meetings are at the Efland Baha’i Center and also can be attended using Zoom.
  2. The long tradition of the weekly OCRA Monday Night 10 Meter Net on 28.450MHz continues and also includes a Zoom session.
  3. The OCRA Saturday morning AuxComm (Auxiliary Communications) net on the 442.150MHz repeater at 9:30am is open to all to check-in for announcements, training, and brief comments. An optional Zoom “rag-chew” session before and after the net is also available.
  4. A special interest “Ham-Pi” group meets once per month on Zoom and sometimes includes tours of member locations where computer, home automation, and a variety of ham interest projects are on display.

It is your choice and your actions that determine whether you will receive notices of the above events by email. The Federal Can-SPAM law enacted in 2003, requires any organization including OCRA, to provide Opt-In / Opt-Out provisions to the recipients of any mass emailing.

Your club membership profile includes 4 Opt-In / Opt Out email options for you to choose to receive notications for the above listed Nets & Zoom gatherings. Use your membership profile access key to update yor membership profile and choose the events you wish to receive the notices which includes the Zoom session ID and password. Your email Opt-In / Opt – Out options appears as follows in your membership profile.

For all of the above to work, you must keep your OCRA membership profile up to date with your current email address.

Lastly a word about SPAM filters

If you are not receiving email notices to OCRA meetings you Opt’d-In to receive, AND your membership email address is current, check your SPAM filter for any missing messages.

SPAM filters are far from perfect and can flag legitimate emails as SPAM. Emails distributed by OCRA are routinely checked with against the top 24 of the most commonly used SPAM filters to ensure there is no content wording and that the necessary authentication records are in place. Unfortunately several internet service providers use SPAM filters that are not properly maintained.

Recent Posts

OCRA Reserved Repeater Use Process

OCRA Special Request – Reserved Repeater Use Process

OCRA has made it a practice to allow use of the club repeaters for other special events. This is a practice that we all support and would like to continue. However, to make this possible and be able to deliver the best outcomes for the requester and club members a new request / approval policy needs to be put in place. This new policy is really quite simple and not intended to put an unnecessary burden on the requester.

  1. All OCRA repeater users must follow the OCRA Repeater Code of Conduct. If you are not familiar with it, it can be found here:

https://ncocra.org/WordPress_v1/ocra-board-of-directors-repeater-code-of-conduct-policy/

  1. The requester should send the request to: ocra@ncocra.org   
  2. The requester must list all repeaters, repeater locations, and frequencies they intend to use.
  3. The requester must include the day, date, repeater use (primary / backup), expected duration of the use including start and stop times.
  4. A minimum of a 2 week notice must be provided. This may sound extreme, but time is needed to properly communicate to Club Members when the repeater will not be available for general use.
  5. VERY IMPORTANT: If the repeater is not in constant use, the requester needs to make occasional announcements, perhaps every 5 – 10 minutes. The announcement might be something like this: “This repeater is being used for the xxxxx event and we would appreciate a clear frequency”.
  6. Once the request is approved by the OCRA Repeater Trustee, the requester has priority unless the specific repeater is needed for an emergency. For example, for disaster communications by AUXCOMM.

AFTER REQUEST IS RECEIVED

    • Trustee receives the request
    • Trustee reviews request and either approves or rejects
    • Trustee sends notification to the OCRA leadership team
    • President sends summary of the approved request to OCRA membership using Groups.io
    • If request is for Saturday, the Net Control for Sat Aux Net will announce the upcoming event, and if needed will move the net to the backup repeater
  1. Membership Survey for Future Meeting Program Topics Comments Off on Membership Survey for Future Meeting Program Topics
  2. OCRA/DFMA 2025 Field Day Comments Off on OCRA/DFMA 2025 Field Day
  3. Orange County CERT Program Training Comments Off on Orange County CERT Program Training